Alfine Di2: dead as a plank

[TimDunne]

Hi. Hoping someone can help here. Possibly that knowledgable chap V for Vengedetta who seems clued up on the Di2 stuff.

I'm an experienced bike fiddler. Been riding Alfine hubs for four years now. My pride and joy is an Alfine 11 drop bar cross bike with Gates centertrack belt drive. (had the frame modded for it) - I've run 10K miles on the belt now.

Figured I'd like to try Di2 Alfine, so bought all the kit. I knew I'd have to go back to chain transmission until I could work out a mod.

Set it all up this afternoon - charged battery, connected it together. Nothing. Totally dead.

I think I'm doing something silly wrong, but I can't see it. I have drop bar shifter, motor unit, hub built into wheel, bottom bracket junction, display unit and battery & mount.

Is there something I need to do to power it all up?

Shifter runs through display to BB junction.
Battery runs straight to BB junction
Motor unit runs to BB junction

Is port positioning important?
Arre the cables interchangeable?

Really lost here, and the dealer has never built one up.

Any suggestions gratefully recieved

Cheers

Tim

 

[Mr Haematocrit]

Can you give me a parts list (numbers) so I know exactly what you have and I'll try to help as much as I can

 

[TimDunne]

Excellent - cheers, thank you. In return, if you want to know about belt drive, I'm your man...

SGS705BL 11 speed hub
MUS705A 11 speed motor unit
STS705P1AL 11 speed Alfine Di2 lever
SCS705 Display unit
SMBTR1 Battery
SMJC40L1 cable and mount kit
SMBCR1 charger

I'm pretty clued up, but this one has me at a loss. It's like I haven't done something obvious. Battery is fully charged, it's all just dead.

Cheers old chap

Tim

 

[dan_bo]

Ah you forgot to sacrifice the goat kid beforehand didn't you?

 

[TimDunne]

Ah you forgot to sacrifice the goat kid beforehand didn't you?

i think I must have done. Just going to have another look. Unusual in my experience for Shimano stuff to be DOA. Must be something I've done.

Cheers

Tim

 

[smokeysmoo]

Can I ask, is the Di2 gear new or second hand?

 

[TimDunne]

Can I ask, is the Di2 gear new or second hand?

Absolutely brand new, bought as parts and a wheel build from Fatbirds

Cheers

Tim

 

[smokeysmoo]

Absolutely brand new, bought as parts and a wheel build from Fatbirds

Ah right. I'm sure V will have a trick or two up his sleeve.

I only asked as I recall reading about a crash mode that kicks in in the event of a errr, crash.

It renders the system redundant, but often just needs a re-set apparently, but clearly not going to be an issue with new gear.

Good luck with it

 

[TimDunne]

Thank you ;0)

I'll get it working if it kills me (and it may well do so)...

I like the idea; solves a number of issues, and well, shiny. If I can get it going, next step is integrating the belt drive, which seems like a good few hours in the machine shop...

Cheers

Tim

 

[Mr Haematocrit]

OK when you press the shifter and hold it down do you get any lights at all on the junction box is there any indication of battery power on the junction box display?

 

[TimDunne]

Nothing at all. It's like there's no power. This is a two wire system, isn't it?

Where's all the control, in the Motor unit?

Cheers

Tim

 

[Mr Haematocrit]

i think I must have done. Just going to have another look. Unusual in my experience for Shimano stuff to be DOA. Must be something I've done.

The most common thing people do is connect the battery power before connecting everything, this is not recomended

 

[Mr Haematocrit]

Nothing at all. It's like there's no power. This is a two wire system, isn't it?

Where's all the control, in the Motor unit?

Yes its uses the CANbus e-wire interface which is the same as ultegra 10 speed and dura 11 speed.. the signal is modulated down the power line from what people understand so far and the control is in each component.. its kinda like a network of computers with each having its own identity on te network.

Do you get any noise from the mech at all to suggest any attempt at shifting, I doubt so? But want to check

 

[Flossyrockstar]

Deleted as a numpty comment

 

[Mr Haematocrit]

At the present time it sounds as if the shutters are not functioning as 'assuming' the battery is charged you should get power when the shifters are held.
If your LBS has another i2 bike in stock, no matter if its ultegra or dura ace - I would try the battery on one of them to confirm this is working and charged just to discount it.
I would then unplug your shifters and plug the connector in again, using the appropriate shimano tool as the connections are pretty tight. Its not very common for both shifters to fail so I think they are either not fully plugged in, or plugged in the adaptor port for additional shifters.

Then your into serious trouble shooting, but from what you have said to this point it sounds like shifters, would love to have a play with it myself as I've not got my hands on a problematic alfine and have only done one install and it went faultlessly

Does your LBS have the diagnostic tools for Di2?